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From the Flames

On May 10th 1941, the church was badly damaged in an air raid and the Rothwell organ was completely destroyed. Fortunately, many of the oldest parts of the building survived and were incorporated into the newly restored church which was rebuilt to its original design. At this time, a specially designed organ chamber on the north side of the church was built.

The present organ was donated to the Temple in 1954 by Lord Glentanar who had commissioned the instrument in 1924 for the ballroom in Glen Tanar House, near Aboyne, Aberdeenshire. It is a large four-manual instrument built by Harrison & Harrison of Durham, an organ firm which has been responsible for the instruments in King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey and the Royal Festival Hall.

The Glentanar organ incorporated many of Arthur Harrison’s tonal characteristics and included the builder’s latest electro-pneumatic action (except for the manual to pedal couplers) and a ‘player mechanism’. Lord Glentanar had taken a close interest in its design, and it seems that he was much impressed by two Harrison organs: the Caird Hall Dundee and St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow.

In 1954, the pitch was raised to c=523.3 and a 32ft extension to the pedal ophicleide rank was added. The organ chamber enables the organ to be laid out over three levels in two bays. Behind the Double Geigen display pipes of the western bay are the Tuba, Great reeds and Choir organ. The Great and Swell organs are at mid-level in the eastern bay above the console, and behind the case (installed in 1966 and based on drawings of the 1684 Smith case). The upper level spans both bays and contains the Solo organ and pedal reeds (which are still encased in their own Swell box with the shutters removed).  The other stops of the Pedal Organ are distributed throughout both bays.

Between 1973 and 1976 the electrical system was modernised, solid-state switching was installed, and the organ was cleaned (although a good deal of the organ was still in good condition and required little attention). Further work included re-organising the composition of the Swell Mixture and the remodelling of the Great Harmonics Mixture (17.19.21.22) as a quint Mixture (19.22.26.29) in 1989. Also at this time, the Great reeds, which previously spoke on 15" wind pressure, were revoiced on the lower wind pressure of 7" and were, along with the Tuba, resited in the western bay.

Further work was carried out in 2000. The console was dismantled and taken to the organ builder's works in Durham and completely overhauled. The jambs have been re-arranged to a more symmetric design, octave couplers have been added to the Swell and Choir divisions, and a tuba drawstop added to the Choir, duplicating the stop from the Solo division. The solid state capture system was updated, giving 128 general memories (with a stepper system) and 8 divisional piston memories. The number of reversible pistons was expanded and the old composition foot pedals were replaced with a new toe-piston sweep with the Harrison 'walnut' pistons.

The organ is still in the care of Harrison & Harrison ltd and can be heard most Wednesdays during term time at the lunchtime organ recital.

The organ is due to be thoroughly cleaned and renovated between July 2011 and Easter Day 2013. The whole organ will be dismantled and removed from the church's two organ chambers. Most of the thousands of pipes and actions will be transported to the organ builder's works and thoroughly cleaned, renovated or renewed as necessary. The opportunity will also be taken to add four new stops - all in the original style of the 1924 organ - to further enhance the organ's versatility. The work will be undertaken by Harrison & Harrison Ltd. and it is hoped that the organ will be ready for use on Easter Day 2013. Whilst the Temple's Harrison organ is out of commission, a temporary electronic organ will be installed.

To find out more about the Temple Church Organ Appeal, please contact Penny Jonas on organappeal@templechurch.com or 020 7427 5640. 

The Present Specfication:

I Choir to Great
II Swell to Great
III Swell Octave to Great
IV Solo to Great
V Great Reeds on Choir
VI Great Reeds on Solo
VII Tremulant
VIII Octave
IX Sub Octave
X Unison Off
XI Solo to Swell
XII Octave
XIII Sub Octave
XIV Unison Off
XV Swell to Choir
XVI Solo to Choir
*extra octave of pipes at the top
XVII Tremulant
XVIII Octave
XIX Sub Octave
XX Unison Off
*extra octave of pipes at the top
XXI Choir to Pedal
XXII Great to Pedal
XXIII Swell to Pedal
XXIV Solo to Pedal
XXV Great to Pedal combinations coupled
XXVI Pedal to Great combinations coupled
XXVII Pedal to Swell combinations coupled
XXVIII Generals on Swell Toe Pistons 8 thumb pistons to the Choir, Great, Swell & Solo organs
8 toe pistons to the Pedal & Swell organs
8 general thumb pistons and general cancel
2 general thumb pistons for the couplers
Setter button
Sequencing thumb pistons and toe pistons (Next and Previous) operating general pistons
Reversible thumb pistons I-IV, XI, XV-XVI, XXI-XXIV
Reversible toe pistons II, XXII
Balanced expression pedals to the Choir, Swell and Solo Organs
The manual compass is CC to c, 61 notes; the pedal CCC to g, 32 notes
There are 128 memories for the general pistons, and eight memories for the divisional pistons
The blowing and humidifying equipment is by Watkins & Watson Ltd Wind Pressures
Pedal: Flues 3 to 5 inches. Reeds 4 inches and 15 inches
Choir:  Flues 3 inches. Reeds 4 inches
Great: Flues 4 inches. Reeds 7 inches
Swell: Flues & Oboe 3.75 inches. Chorus reeds 7 inches
Solo: Flues and Orchestral Hautboy  5 inches. Horn, Trumpet & Tuba 15 inches
Action Pressure: 12 inches

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